TY - JOUR

T1 - When Grades Are High but Self-Efficacy Is Low

T2 - Unpacking the Confidence Gap Between Girls and Boys in Mathematics

AU - Zander, Lysann

AU - Höhne, Elisabeth

AU - Harms, Sophie

AU - Pfost, Maximilian

AU - Hornsey, Matthew J.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Janine Neuhaus and Melanie Rau as well as all student assistants for their help with collecting and organizing the data on which the study is based. They also thank Bettina Hannover for obtaining the funding for the data collection. Funding. This research was supported by the Volkswagen Stiftung, Förderinitiative: Gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Herausforderungen–Studiengruppen zu Migration und Integration, Az.: II/80,639.

PY - 2020/10/7

Y1 - 2020/10/7

N2 - Girls have much lower mathematics self-efficacy than boys, a likely contributor to the under-representation of women in STEM. To help explain this gender confidence gap, we examined predictors of mathematics self-efficacy in a sample of 1,007 9th graders aged 13–18 years (54.2% girls). Participants completed a standardized math test, after which they rated three indices of mastery: an affective component (state self-esteem), a meta-cognitive component (self-enhancement), and their prior math grade. Despite having similar grades, girls reported lower mathematics self-efficacy and state self-esteem, and were less likely than boys to self-enhance in terms of performance. Multilevel multiple-group regression analyses showed that the affective mastery component explained girls’ self-efficacy while cognitive self-enhancement explained boys’. Yet, a chi-square test showed that both constructs were equally relevant in the prediction of girls’ and boys’ self-efficacy. Measures of interpersonal sources of self-efficacy were not predictive of self-efficacy after taking the other dimensions into account. Results suggest that boys are advantaged in their development of mathematics self-efficacy beliefs, partly due to more positive feelings and more cognitive self-enhancement following test situations.

AB - Girls have much lower mathematics self-efficacy than boys, a likely contributor to the under-representation of women in STEM. To help explain this gender confidence gap, we examined predictors of mathematics self-efficacy in a sample of 1,007 9th graders aged 13–18 years (54.2% girls). Participants completed a standardized math test, after which they rated three indices of mastery: an affective component (state self-esteem), a meta-cognitive component (self-enhancement), and their prior math grade. Despite having similar grades, girls reported lower mathematics self-efficacy and state self-esteem, and were less likely than boys to self-enhance in terms of performance. Multilevel multiple-group regression analyses showed that the affective mastery component explained girls’ self-efficacy while cognitive self-enhancement explained boys’. Yet, a chi-square test showed that both constructs were equally relevant in the prediction of girls’ and boys’ self-efficacy. Measures of interpersonal sources of self-efficacy were not predictive of self-efficacy after taking the other dimensions into account. Results suggest that boys are advantaged in their development of mathematics self-efficacy beliefs, partly due to more positive feelings and more cognitive self-enhancement following test situations.

KW - gender

KW - mathematics

KW - self-efficacy beliefs

KW - sources of self-efficacy

KW - STEM

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094121021&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.552355

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.552355

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85094121021

VL - 11

JO - Frontiers in psychology

JF - Frontiers in psychology

SN - 1664-1078

M1 - 552355

ER -